Pallet sheets are well known in the cargo, packaging, and transportation industries as a means for supporting cargo loads thereon during the formation of palletized load assemblies comprising the cargo loads and the underlying pallet sheets. Conventional pallet sheets of the aforenoted type are disclosed, for example, within U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,804 which issued to Werner on Apr. 20, 1999, U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,643 which issued to Werner on Nov. 5, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,372 which issued to Frenkel et al. on Jul. 13, 1993, U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,348 which issued to Nagata et al. on Mar. 26, 1985, U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,127 which issued to Brossia on Aug. 16, 1977, U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,116 which issued to Mackes on Nov. 26, 1974, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,145 which issued to Anderson et al. on Dec. 4, 1973. As briefly described within U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,643 which issued to Werner, and as illustrated within FIG. 1, which substantially corresponds to FIG. 1 of the noted Werner patent, when a palletized load is to be constructed and loaded upon a motorized vehicle, such as, for example, a forklift truck or the like, a pallet sheet 10 is initially disposed upon a flat support surface 12, and a plurality of cargo packages 14 are then deposited upon the pallet sheet. A motorized transport vehicle 16 is provided with a support platen 20, and a gripper bar mechanism or assembly 18 is fixedly mounted upon a forwardly disposed vertically oriented framework member 21 which, in turn, is movably mounted upon a rearwardly disposed vertically oriented framework member 23 by means of a pantagraph assembly 25. The gripper bar mechanism or assembly 18 is adapted to grip or grasp a lip portion 36 of the pallet sheet 10 so as to effectively move the palletized load 10,14 onto the support platen 20, or alternatively, the support platen 20 may effectively be moved underneath the palletized load 10,14 while the palletized load 10,14 is effectively held in a slightly upwardly raised and tilted orientation as a result of the gripper bar mechanism or assembly 18 gripping or grasping the lip portion 36 of the pallet sheet 10.
It is additionally noted that the central or main body portion of the pallet sheet 10 is provided with a plurality of upwardly projecting nubs or protrusions, however, the upwardly projecting nubs or protrusions are not provided or disposed upon the lip member 36 of the pallet sheet 10. In fact, none of the aforenoted patents, directed toward the various pallet sheets, disclose the use of such protrusions, nubs, dimples, or the like, upon any of their respectively inclined or angled edge, lip, or tab members, with the exception of the patent to Frenkel et al., however, the patent to Frenkel et al. discloses the use of dimple structure only upon one of its lip members. Still further, the dimple structure is disposed only upon the undersurface portion of the one lip member, and no reason is provided within the Frenkel et al. patent as to why the dimples are provided only upon the one lip member of the pallet sheet, what purpose such dimples serve as a result of being disposed only upon the one lip member of the pallet sheet, or why such dimples are provided only upon the undersurface portion of the one lip member of the pallet sheet.
Continuing still further, it has been experienced that, in conjunction with such conventional pallet sheets, as exemplified by means of the Werner or Frenkel et al. patents, it is sometimes difficult for the gripper bar mechanism to in fact engage the upwardly angled edge, lip, or tab portion of the pallet sheet in such a manner as to be capable of fixedly or securely gripping or grasping the pallet sheet in preparation for the performance of a palletized load pulling or pushing operation. Accordingly, it is sometimes difficult for the gripper bar mechanism to in fact readily or reliably achieve a particular pulling or pushing operation with respect to the palletized load in order to, for example, pull the palletized load onto the support platen of the motorized transport vehicle when the palletized load is to be transported or moved to a remote location, or to push or remove the palletized load from the support platen of the motorized transport vehicle in order to deposit the palletized load at a desired location or destination. More particularly, the gripper bar mechanism sometimes experiences slippage with respect to the upwardly angled edge, lip, or tab portion of the pallet sheet. Such slippage results in the impression, for example, of torsional forces upon the upwardly angled edge, lip, or tab portion of the pallet sheet which, in turn, leads to significant, abnormally oriented stresses being impressed upon, or generated within, such upwardly angled edge, lip, or tab portion of the pallet sheet. Accordingly, the edge, lip, or tab portion of the pallet sheet experiences fracture, propagated cracking, or breakage, which will effectively prevent the pallet sheet from being used for its intended purposes, thereby rendering the useful service life of such pallet sheets undesirably foreshortened.
Still yet further, as has been noted hereinbefore, some pallet sheets are normally fabricated with their edge, lip, or tab portions angled upwardly at a predetermined angle so as to in fact facilitate the engagement and gripping thereof by means of the gripper bar mechanism of the motorized transport vehicle. Prior to the usage of the pallet sheets, however, the pallet sheets are normally stored within a stacked array. In view of the fact, however, that the pallet sheets are fabricated from any one of various different thermoplastic materials which are not rigid, but are somewhat flexible, and which do not exhibit permanent memory characteristics, the upwardly angled edge, lip, or tab portions will not normally retain their upwardly angled orientations over an extended period of time but, to the contrary, under the influence of gravitational forces, the upwardly angled edge, lip, or tab portions will tend to become coplanar with respect to the main or central body portion of the pallet sheet. Accordingly, when a particular one of the plurality of pallet sheets is, for example, removed from the stacked array of pallet sheets, the originally upwardly angled edge, lip, or tab portions of the pallet sheet will not be disposed at its original, upwardly angled orientation so as to facilitate the engagement and gripping thereof by means of a gripper bar mechanism of a motorized transport vehicle.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved pallet sheet wherein not only will the pallet sheet be capable of exhibiting or providing enhanced cushioning characteristics with respect to the cargo load, but in addition, the pallet sheet will also exhibit or provide enhanced frictional characteristics between the upper surface portion of the pallet sheet and the cargo load, and wherein still further, the pallet sheet will be capable of exhibiting or providing enhanced gripping characteristics with respect to the gripper bar mechanism of the motorized transport vehicle such that the gripper bar mechanism of the motorized transport vehicle can in fact achieve a secure and reliable grip upon the pallet sheet in connection with pushing and pulling palletized load operations. Still yet further, a need exists in the art for a means for packaging a plurality of pallet sheets, for storage and shipping, in such a manner that the upwardly angled edge, lip, or tab portions of the plurality of pallet sheets will be disposed and retained in their upwardly angled orientations so as to always be properly oriented in their upwardly angled orientations so as to facilitate the engagement and gripping of the upwardly angled edge, lip, or tab portions of the pal-let sheets by means of a gripper bar mechanism of a motorized transport vehicle.